Player 1CC's Gradius III on highest difficulty (video)

[Dylan1CC]

A new member on the Gradius Homeworld forum named Seahawk posted some videos of himself clearing the first three Gradius games in MAME. Of special note is his 1CC run of Gradius III on highest difficulty ( ), must be seen to be believed, easy link to all ten videos:

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p ... l&rclk=pti

[MathU]

DO NOT DIE. If you die anywhere that's not level 4, level 9, or the end of the game, please reset, as recovery is impossible.

[Damocles]

Where's tviks?

[Mortificator]

DO NOT DIE. If you die anywhere that's not level 4, level 9, or the end of the game, please reset, as recovery is impossible.

Oh, Gradius...

This vid reminds me that aside from its insane difficulty, I actually like the design of Gradius III. I should pick up the the PS2 port sometime.

[Phellan Wolf]

Sure the dificulty of the game is really insane but I am sure that a lot of anonymous players did the same before him. Anyway astounding play through.

[Herr Schatten]

Where's tviks?

[Radiant Cinnabun]

It's cool, but.. it's arcade Gradius 3. How much do you have to hate yourself to want to even attempt this? You can feel the game actively hating you even as you play it.

[Ruldra]

Props to the guy. I'm gonna watch that later.

How much do you have to hate yourself to want to even attempt this?

If you like oldschool memorizers then Gradius III is a lot of fun actually. Takes time and practice to learn the game, but it's very satisfying to go through level after level without dying. At one point I could no-miss to stage 7, I still want to beat it sometime.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

Im still plodding along with gradius NES and having fun. In Stage 5 the tenticle level im getting lots of slowdown if i dont bother destroying the tenticles and just dodge em. Im playing on Nestopia 13 is the slowdown the same on the actual console?

Plus another question, all the video i see of the gradius series (even gradius 1) every vid has autofire on which obviously makes the game a hell of alot easier (im playing gra1 without it) my question is when was (if at all) was autofire introduced by the devs as a propper feature and not something some1 must eather turn on in the emulator or use an autofire enabled controller to use it?

[Mortificator]

The home versions of Konami's shooters from the 16-bit era onward regularly included it.

They still wanted you to wear your finger out in the arcade, though.

[lgb]

my question is when was (if at all) was autofire introduced by the devs as a propper feature and not something some1 must eather turn on in the emulator or use an autofire enabled controller to use it?

in terms of arcade games, the first might have been either Dogyuun (to an extent) or V-Five

[Momijitsuki]

Watched it. Pretty awesome.

[Seahawk]

It's cool, but.. it's arcade Gradius 3. How much do you have to hate yourself to want to even attempt this? You can feel the game actively hating you even as you play it.

Because it's fun. You just have to NOT DIE, because you're not coming back if you do in most places. Getting past that, it's a memorization game like all other shooters. The music is great and really pulls you into the game.
The only part that is literally unfair is Crystal Stage, that's the worst and most unfair level in the history of shooter games XD. Go play a Parodius game on hardest, and it will teach you the meaning of hate ^^.

Plus another question, all the video i see of the gradius series (even gradius 1) every vid has autofire on which obviously makes the game a hell of alot easier (im playing gra1 without it) my question is when was (if at all) was autofire introduced by the devs as a propper feature and not something some1 must eather turn on in the emulator or use an autofire enabled controller to use it?

I don't use autofire in those three videos. Technically Gradius I through IV have autofire on AC units, but it's around one or two shots per second, good luck beating the game with that =P. Most of the home ports of Gradius AC games, and Gradius Gaiden and Gradius V have a rapid autofire button.


Thanks to everyone for your support. Gradius IV and V are really hard o_0 so I'll probably play those on normal. However for Gradius V I will have revival start turned ON. And if I can figure out a way to record Gradius Gaiden I will play that on hardest too ^^. Thanks again and see ya!

~Seahawk

[captpain]

Seahawk, go drink some whiskey and try to forget about all that video game torture

[sjewkestheloon]

Props to the man, I am terrible at old school horis and have admiration for anyone that can do this.

I'll never forget the replays of Gradius V that I saw with the rank as high as hell. The first stage boss was like a bullet hell storm x10, and I struggled to beat it on standard.

[NR777]

Just finished watching that...and my head hurts. I've never been good at the Gradius series. Excellent run.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

i just watched the 1st 2 vids and apart from your gaming skills i couldnt help noticing just how long the game is, way longer then my preferred 5/6 stages

[Ebbo]

i just watched the 1st 2 vids and apart from your gaming skills i couldnt help noticing just how long the game is, way longer then my preferred 5/6 stages

+1
Volcano Stage is long. Very long.
Also the Crystal rush part... What the hell were they thinking? Seriously.

Gotta give credit to Seahawk for clearing this game. And although you even died few times during the final stages, you still didn't give up. Good luck with IV and V.

[Mero]

Amazing stuff, this game is just SO hard

[Aquas]

Obligatory fuck that cube rush shit. Well done, well done.

[Radiant Cinnabun]

Yeah, the crystal cage seems to imply some real misanthropy on the part of the Gradius 3 team. I don't know who pissed them off or hurt them in life, but they've got a grudge and they're taking it out on anyone who plays that level.

It's pretty much the most mean-spiritted and ugly kind of R-Type stage.

[Klatrymadon]

It's perfectly possible to dodge every single one of the bastards on-the-fly if you have 3 or 4 speed-ups and can keep your composure. That's not for me, though. I like the wall-building method.

[Seahawk]

i just watched the 1st 2 vids and apart from your gaming skills i couldnt help noticing just how long the game is, way longer then my preferred 5/6 stages

+1
Volcano Stage is long. Very long.
Also the Crystal rush part... What the hell were they thinking? Seriously.

Gotta give credit to Seahawk for clearing this game. And although you even died few times during the final stages, you still didn't give up. Good luck with IV and V.

The extreme difficulty from this game comes more from mental exhaustion than anything. This kind of game length is unprecendented for a 1980s shooter. Games these days are more extreme with bullet count but overall game sessions are shorter than Gradius III. Either you know the pattern and you win, or you die a horrible and totally precented death quickly =P.

To be honest I freaked the hell out when I died on the last stage. Dying at Crystal stage isn't a big deal since its one of the few zones where you can power back up enough to win. But dying at Disrupt and on the speed escape.........damn I was almost crying there. I didn't want to do Crystal stage again.

Gradius IV on hardest? Lol Bubble Stage and Moai Stage are horrendous on that difficulty. Gradius V on hardest? Super lol since I'm forcing myself to play with revival start on XD. Gradius V has the same stage length issue of Gradius III combined with Treasure bullet hell and stage design tactics, especially on the impregnable fortress stage. A nightmare X_x;.

It's perfectly possible to dodge every single one of the bastards on-the-fly if you have 3 or 4 speed-ups and can keep your composure. That's not for me, though. I like the wall-building method.

Getting hi speed is certainly not recommended for the final stage. There are simply too many narrow passages and squeezes to die in. Besides that would mean you have to count all 100 cubes and know which ones attack and where the next cubes will come. F that XD.

Again thanks for everyone's support ^^/. Btw I should note that I haven't played Gradius III since I beat it. Gradius II is still all right though ;D.

[BIL]

Loved those captions for the BGMs, Seahawk. I was wondering if they were a hidden feature of the arcade ROM until I saw you'd done them by hand!

[StoofooEsq]

Not sure what kind of spirit it takes to put yourself through the torture of 1CCing Gradius III Arcade, but whatever it was, it's an incredible feat. Take a bow, Seahawk.

Loved those captions for the BGMs, Seahawk. I was wondering if they were a hidden feature of the arcade ROM until I saw you'd done them by hand!

Same. I was about to fire up the game myself to see if I could enable such a feature and then immediately go back to never touching G3A again.

[originalz]

Bloody hell, what a brutal game. I like how some parts get harder if you have certain equipment. The crystal rush kind of reminds me of one of the bosses in the original Parodius where shit flies towards you and fills the screen, god knows how frustrating these things can get. The second loop looks absolutely impossible from the start as well!

You still planning to run through Gradius 2 PCE? I'm not sure how pro mode compares to arcade hardest, but I could never beat the final level on that difficulty.

[Bloodreign]

The only thing I can say about Pro Mode for Gradius 2 PCE CD is that it has a totally different ending from any other difficulty or the arcade version.

[Seahawk]

You still planning to run through Gradius 2 PCE? I'm not sure how pro mode compares to arcade hardest, but I could never beat the final level on that difficulty.

Professional mode on Gradius II PCE CD is the hardest configuration of Gradius II ever released. It makes the AC version on hardest look like easy mode. Difficulty is comparable to higher loops but without return fire. I plan to do it, I can get to the last level on Type A, I just need to find a strategy for Club as the reduced screen size from AC makes him fill more of the screen and I haven't found a way past that yet, and with no save states practice runs take a long time. I just don't have it at my college dorm at the moment. But I will beat it one day.

[bcass]

The only thing I can say about Pro Mode for Gradius 2 PCE CD is that it has a totally different ending from any other difficulty or the arcade version.

Interesting. Anyone know of any videos showing this ending?

[Klatrymadon]

I don't, but I did save a handful of images after someone posted about it on GameStone a while ago. It shows the Viper flying through the debris of some of the defeated bosses:

http://www.gradius.splen.co.uk/g2pceending.png
http://www.gradius.splen.co.uk/g2pceending2.png
http://www.gradius.splen.co.uk/g2pceending3.png
http://www.gradius.splen.co.uk/g2pceending4.png

I wonder if it influenced Gaiden's second stage at all...